Are any of you boardsies homeschooling?

fro9etb8j5qsl2

It's something I've thought about on and off for the last while. Of course the reality of it is probably a lot different to the idealistic notion of everyone being deliriously happy and the children sitting quietly at the kitchen table doing their lessons attentively.... But what is the reality of homeschooling? And what made you choose to do it? I'd imagine it requires a lot of patience and self discipline to keep to a lesson schedule and not to go batshìt from being with your kids 24/7

mocha please!

Absolutely no experience of it, but I'd just be very concerned about the social development of the child. I think it's so important for them to regularly be around lots of other people - both those that they get on with, and those they don't! In my opinion, this lack of experience would make both college and working life a lot more difficult for them to adjust to.

In my opinion home-schooling is a lovely idea, but the problem is it almost creates a utopia for the child - where everything is centred around them, where everything is at their pace, etc ... which sounds great, except that the real world isn't like that, and personally I believe that it would leave them short when it comes to the skills required to cope in the real world.

Roesy

I've got no experience of home schooling except in the case of an autistic child I used to work with. I am a primary school teacher though so maybe a little biased towards our system I do think the social aspect would have to be looked at very carefully it were something you were going to seriously consider. As far as I know there is a home schooling network/group. I'd probably start there with my search for information if I were you. It's still such an unusual concept here, if you did do it, would it be for primary school or primary and secondary?

fro9etb8j5qsl2

I was thinking for primary and then allowing the kids to choose for themselves at secondary level. I think the social aspect would be my biggest worry. I get what you're saying mocha about creating a utopia for the child. One of the biggest appeals of homeschooling is that it is centred around the child but the real world isn't that easy at all. I hadn't thought about the fact that kids need to be around people they don't like as well as people they do

I'll check out the home schooling network roesy thanks It is still very uncommon in Ireland and I think people automatically think of hippies or devout christians when they hear the word homeschooling

LegacyUser

Are you on Facebook Mrs Postman? If so I'll PM you the links to the 2 Facebook groups for homeschoolers in Ireland. One is for all homeschoolers, the other is for all those who homeschool through free-learning. To join the groups you have to write a note to the admin about why you want to join, as they are careful about only letting homeschoolers or those who have a genuine interest in it join. A lot of the members are potential future homeschoolers who's oldest children are toddlers, so there are plenty of questions from that perspective as well as discussions among those actively homeschooling. They also organise educational or sometimes just fun group trips that the kids can go on together all around the country. I think there is also an annual camping trip.

The socialisation argument tends to be a massive red herring as far as I can see. If you are homeschooling for the right reasons (ie not to close your children off from the world) the your children would be living day out in the real world. Interacting with people in all sorts of real life situations. They will in fact be much better 'socialised' than a child who spends great chunks of their waking hours in an artificial environment. Remember, schools as we know them haven't actually existed for more than a few generations and only in certain societies even now. We didn't evolve to need that sort of environment as we mature. We evolved to be around a mixture of ages and learn mostly through interacting in the real world.

SF12

I'm afraid I've no experience of it at all either, but I'd be worried about homeschooling primary, and then kind of "dumping" them in a school for secondary - I know you'd let them chose themselves, but it could be a serious shock for them.

Personally I haven't a clue how it would work.I do think there's nothing wrong with having your kids interacting with other people, adults and kids. Often they gain a lot from experiencing different personalities and situations. I'm pretty sure my little one would be bored out of her skull if she was only looking at me all day long:D And as you say - how would you keep your sanity?!

eviltwin

I'm half doing it. My son has asd and has a reduced school day, I do about two hours of work with him at home. It's not easy as I'm not a natural teacher and I've no training. I'm getting a lot of help from the school and my son's occupational therapist and only for that I'd be lost. I think it must take a lot of discipline to do it full time. It is a lot of fun though and its great that we get the opportunity to do things that aren't covered in school.

fro9etb8j5qsl2

.jfkyt wrote: »

Are you on Facebook Mrs Postman? If so I'll PM you the links to the 2 Facebook groups for homeschoolers in Ireland.

That'd be brilliant thanks

eviltwin wrote: »

It is a lot of fun though and its great that we get the opportunity to do things that aren't covered in school.

This is one of the reasons why I'm interested in doing it. Learning a set curriculum from set lessons in a set book is the easiest way of mass teaching in classrooms. It saves disruption to have everyone on the same page at the same time but personally, I think that there are more enjoyable and interesting ways to teach things to children.
You can show a child a picture of a cow day in day out but it's never going to be the same as taking the child to a field with a real cow

I haven't fully made my mind up about it but it's good to hear opposing opinions about it. Anyone (apart from my OH) I've mentioned it to in real life have just rolled their eyes and dismissed the idea straight away, saying I can't do it, I'd be cheating my kids out of structure and friendship etc etc.

Sleepy

I'd be more curious to try and meet as many young men/women who have been home-schooled themselves so you can judge based on the "end product" rather than the process. There's definitely a perception that home-schooling leads to "special snowflake syndrome" and poor social skills and were I looking into this as an option for my own kids, I'd want to see what that was based on.

Moonbeam

I thought about it for a while but i do not have the discipline myself to do it.
Have you looked at Montessori and Steiner primary schools too? They can be a good option as they are more child centered.

pwurple

There are a few reasons to homeschool.

-Remote location is one, if you're living in the antarctic, there ain't any other choice.

-Then there's the religious/non-religious thing, where you want your children to excluded from others in case they are contaminated in some way.

-Lack of confidence in the quality of available education is another, and this sounds like yours. For this one, I think it would help a lot if the parent has some education training or maybe has a tutor employed as well.

Have a look at smaller schools if mass learning is the issue. In our area we have schools with only two teachers, all ages are mixed. Steiner may also suit, they do a lot of outdoor stuff.

If you are not working, you can educate them in addition to school. I have some teachers in the family, and when I ask for their advice on education, they all tell me engaged parents create the best results. Taking an active interest in the schoolwork, and supplementing/reinforcing it outside of school. There are so many things to learn apart from what is covered in school. Music, skills like cycling, swimming, rowing, driving, map reading, team sports, arts, languages, culture & travelling, horticulture, electronics, programming, camping/survival, cookery. If I'm trying to get through all those with my kids (which I intend to!), I think I'd be well out of energy if I was trying to get through numeracy, literacy and the other subjects they do in school too.

When you think about the amount of time actually in school, it's fairly short. Half days, 5 days a week. With months off in summer. Several weeks at easter and christmas, and even more weeks off a midterms. There's far more time out of school than in school.

fro9etb8j5qsl2

Jesus those Steiner schools look absolutely fantastic, I was just looking through a slideshow of the type of lessons they do and it looks exactly like the kind of teaching I would do if it were up to me I'd nearly be jealous of all the fun time the teachers would be getting to spend with my children though :pac: There's one near enough to where I'm from originally but we've moved a bit away now so it would mean some travelling but definitely still worth considering.

Apart from my lack of confidence in the quality of available education, I have very strong feelings about catholic lessons being taught in school. I had to fight tooth and nail against OH to not christen our kids (he isn't particularly religious but said we should do it out of tradition and didn't want them to feel excluded at school when other kids woukd be getting communion etc) so I would like to avoid that whole can of worms too. There's an ET school nearby but demand for places is very high so couldn't depend on it.

I've never met anyone who was homeschooled from primary upwards but I do know 2 men who were homeschooled through secondary school. In both cases their parents had withdrawn them from mainstream due to bullying. Ironically, one turned out to be very socially awkward and felt extremely pressured by his mother to do well while the other fella ended up being very laid back and sociable, genuinely interested in other people and calm but confident when it came to assessments. So I guess a lot of it boils down to the individual and the approach taken by the homeschooling parent too.

Fair play to you pwurple, that's some list. I can't even do half that stuff myself!

theLuggage

Kolton Stocky Driver wrote: »

Fair play to you pwurple, that's some list. I can't even do half that stuff myself!

Ah but that's the fun part! You could research what you don't know or what you need etc and then try to learn about it together.

lazygal

Steiner schools have some pretty whacky beliefs too. I'd do very thorough research before deciding on one for my children.

SF12

pwurple wrote: »

There are a few reasons to homeschool.

-Remote location is one, if you're living in the antarctic, there ain't any other choice.

-Then there's the religious/non-religious thing, where you want your children to excluded from others in case they are contaminated in some way.

-Lack of confidence in the quality of available education is another, and this sounds like yours. For this one, I think it would help a lot if the parent has some education training or maybe has a tutor employed as well.

Have a look at smaller schools if mass learning is the issue. In our area we have schools with only two teachers, all ages are mixed. Steiner may also suit, they do a lot of outdoor stuff.

If you are not working, you can educate them in addition to school. I have some teachers in the family, and when I ask for their advice on education, they all tell me engaged parents create the best results. Taking an active interest in the schoolwork, and supplementing/reinforcing it outside of school. There are so many things to learn apart from what is covered in school. Music, skills like cycling, swimming, rowing, driving, map reading, team sports, arts, languages, culture & travelling, horticulture, electronics, programming, camping/survival, cookery. If I'm trying to get through all those with my kids (which I intend to!), I think I'd be well out of energy if I was trying to get through numeracy, literacy and the other subjects they do in school too.

When you think about the amount of time actually in school, it's fairly short. Half days, 5 days a week. With months off in summer. Several weeks at easter and christmas, and even more weeks off a midterms. There's far more time out of school than in school.

See, I totally agree with this viewpoint. I really think too many parents just dump their kids in school, expect the teachers to do it all, come home in the evenings and dump the kids in front of the TV.... then give out when they feel their education isn't "rounded" enough. Teachers in junior classes will tell you that the parents HAVE to engage with the child for the learning to really work - you have to practice your child's reading etc in the evenings with them, if you want it to improve well (assuming they have the skills obviously). At weekends, families all seem to pile into their local shopping centre for - something...I'm sorry, I just don't get it.

I would be of the (hopeful ) opinion that I'm happy for my child to be in a mainstream school, but outside of school - ie, evenings and weekends - she's my responsibility to teach. We'll be hitting the beaches, playgrounds, investigating the dirt in the back garden ( ), gardening and chasing our cats and dogs around. (she already does a lot of those!) Both daddy and I play instruments, so she bashes away on them with us already. I would hope that we'll pick a couple of hobbies for her, not too many, and work away with it. I think our aim is to supplement the school side of things, rather than replace it or control it. I work full time, but I still cook every evening, so she can help out when she's big enough if she wants, and I'd like to have plenty of chalk, blackboards, paint, paper and books around the house.

This is all aspirational of course, but some of it we do already. Then again - I'm from a family of primary school teachers so I honestly don't know any other way to be a parent.

eviltwin

You'll find lots of ideas on YouTube and sites like GoNoodle, Tinkerlab and Teaching Ideas

fro9etb8j5qsl2

Just came across this:

http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/discussion/school-starting-age-the-evidence

The article itself is about the age that children start school but there is a good discussion about homeschooling in the comments section. Some are a bit biased but there are a few good examples of people who were homeschooled and didn't turn out to be narcissists or unable to cope with real life